1) OBAMA CONSIDERS TOTAL WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN, via Mark Mazzetti and Matthew Rosenberg of The New York Times: “Increasingly frustrated by his dealings with President Hamid Karzai, President Obama is giving serious consideration to speeding up the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan and to a ‘zero option’ that would leave no American troops there after next year, according to American and European officials. … His relationship with Mr. Karzai has been slowly unraveling, and reached a new low after an effort last month by the United States to begin peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar.” http://nyti.ms/11wS4dq

2) MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD FACES STARK CHOICE, via Abigail Hauslohner of The Washington Post: “Muslim Brotherhood leaders face what they see as a stark choice: a return to oppression or a bloody fight against a military that has held sway in this country for six decades. For a group that has toggled throughout its history between violence and peaceful opposition, the killing by security forces of dozens of Brotherhood supporters on Monday left its members angry, embittered and at risk, analysts said, of careening toward a more militant and radicalized future.” http://wapo.st/14YUL4E

3) VENEZUELA IN THE SPOTLIGHT AS IT AWAITS SNOWDEN’S ANSWER, via WaPo’s Juan Forero: “American fugitive Edward Snowden’s diminishing possibilities of remaining free to continue releasing information about secret U.S. surveillance programs increasingly appear to hinge on Venezuela, which awaited word Monday on whether the former National Security Agency contractor would accept its offer of asylum and fly to the oil-rich country.

“Among those offering sanctuary to Snowden, anti-imperialist Venezuela stands out: a country with an intense antipathy toward the United States and just enough muscle to make his escape from American law enforcement a possibility.” http://wapo.st/1ajKRRN

CHUCK HAGEL’S DAY: At 3:30 p.m., the Defense secretary is speaking at the Military Child Education Coalition Training Seminar, at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. And at 4:30 p.m., he’s scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama in the Situation Room.

FIRST LOOK — POMPEO TO BLAST OBAMA ON GITMO: Rep. Mike Pompeo is set to speak at 9 a.m. today at an event on Gitmo hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. And the Kansas Republican, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, plans to take the president to task over the issue, according to a excerpts of his prepared remarks shared with Morning D.

“The president has eviscerated our intelligence-gathering capabilities while claiming that winding down the War on Terror — such as closing down Guantanamo Bay — makes us more lawful, safer, and more moral,” Pompeo will say. “He’s wrong. It does just the opposite. The way he is pursuing this goal is less lawful, makes us less safe, and throws morality out the window.”

HAPPY TUESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where it’s noted that Florence Blanchfield was appointed to be a lieutenant colonel in the Army on this day in 1947, making her the first woman to hold a permanent rank as an officer in the U.S. military, according to the History channel. Blanchfield had been in the Army Nurse Corps since 1917 and served as superintendent of the corps during World War II (more here: http://bit.ly/c3XUJd).

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CAN YOU SAY ‘COUP’? The White House can’t. The Obama administration is declining to call Egypt’s governmental transition a “coup,” saying that label could have “significant consequences” for Egypt. What wasn’t said: The label could also jeopardize a decades-old relationship that benefits defense contractors in the United States and supporters of the status quo in the Middle East. We’ve got more here on how halting aid to Egypt could affect contractors, for Pros: http://politico.pro/1dbCKTq

-- GOP DIVIDED: A rift opened up in the Republican Party yesterday as House Speaker John Boehner came down strongly in support of the Egyptian military. “I think their military, on behalf of the citizens, did what they had to do in terms of replacing the elected president,” Boehner said ( http://politi.co/14Yx10i). Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain called for a suspension in military assistance to Egypt. “It is difficult for me to conclude that what happened was anything other than a coup in which the military played a decisive role,” the Arizona Republican said in a statement.

-- LEVIN WANTS SUSPENSION, TOO: Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters he also believes U.S. aid to Egypt should be suspended until the interim government schedules new elections and begins to amend the constitution. POLITICO’s Burgess Everett has more: http://politi.co/13xzYJx

TOP TALKER — REPORT CITES PAKISTAN FAILURES BEFORE RAID: A 336-page report from the Abbottabad Commission leaked yesterday that says Osama bin Laden lived in Pakistan for nearly a decade because of the “collective incompetence and negligence” of the country's security forces. “Connivance, collaboration and cooperation at some levels cannot be entirely discounted,” the report says. More here, via NYT: http://nyti.ms/12T8Qx2

HAPPENING TODAY — JURY SELECTION IN FORT HOOD TRIAL: The courthouse at Fort Hood “has been transformed into a fortress,” according to Angela K. Brown of The Associated Press, as jury selection begins in the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at the base in 2009. “Just two years after a bomb attack was thwarted in Killeen,” Brown writes, “some military law experts say the community may once again be a target by supporters of Hasan, an American-born Muslim who has tried to justify the deadly rampage as protecting Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.” http://bit.ly/16kiOtU

MANNING DEFENSE GETS UNDERWAY, via POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein: “The defense of Private Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of transmitting hundreds of thousands of classified military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, opened its case as his court martial here Monday by highlighting lax procedures at the intelligence center in Iraq where he worked when he allegedly downloaded the trove of sensitive information he’s charged with leaking.” http://politi.co/1bj42Jx

WHAT PROS ARE READING — TURNER SAYS FAILED MISSILE TEST SHOWS MISPLACED PRIORITIES: A top critic of the Obama administration’s missile defense priorities is using a failed intercept test over the Pacific Ocean to point to the need for continued investment in the technology. Rep. Mike Turner took aim at the president yesterday, saying that Friday’s failure showed a hole in a system that is not being tested and used to its potential. More here, via POLITICO’s Leigh Munsil: http://politico.pro/15rPAfD

TOP DOC — REPORT HIGHLIGHTS FLAWS IN DoD ACQUISITIONS: Undersecretary of Defense Frank Kendall has released his 2013 report on Pentagon acquisitions, pointing out failures in the system and problem areas that need to be fixed for DoD to get the most out of its spending. Read it here: http://1.usa.gov/14YzUON

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT: Pilots at Scott Air Force Base in southwestern Illinois are trying out iPad minis in the cockpit of C-21A planes, in an attempt to reduce the nearly 50 pounds of paper typically on board, The Belleville News-Democrat reports. Normally each C-21A plane carries maps, navigational charts and flight manuals. Many of those documents must be replaced every two months as maps and manuals are updated. That clocks in at $25,000 in printing costs alone, while a single iPad mini costs just a little more than $500. http://bit.ly/13xzl2N

MAKING MOVES — GIS TAPS POPPS AS DIRECTOR: GLOBAL Integrated Security Inc. has named Dean Popps to its board of directors. Popps most recently served as acting assistant secretary for the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. The chairman of DIS’s board, David Gompert, said Popps will be a “great asset to the business.”

THAT’S ALL FOR US. Have a great Tuesday.

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Authors:

About The Author

Austin Wright is a senior defense reporter based at the Pentagon covering budget, policy and national security issues. He has been with POLITICO since 2011 and was previously a web producer and author of the widely read newsletter Morning Defense.

Before POLITICO, Wright worked for National Defense magazine, interned at The Chronicle of Higher Education and taught sixth-grade English at Kramer Middle School in Washington.

Wright hails from Richmond, Va., and graduated in 2009 from the College of William and Mary, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Flat Hat. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Leanne, and their dog, Kernel.

About The Author

Juana Summers is a political reporter for POLITICO Pro. She joined POLITICO in 2010, at the start of the Republican presidential primary, and contributed to POLITICO's campaign reporting on the primary as well as the general election.

Summers covered Missouri politics for a variety of outlets prior to joining POLITICO including the Kansas City Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KBIA-FM, the NPR affiliate in central Missouri. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post and the Austin American-Statesman.

She earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism, where she is also a candidate for a master's degree in journalism.

Summers is also a guest host for C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" and served one term as a board member for the Online News Association, a nonprofit membership organization for digital journalists.